A Story of Near Death
by rkarcheologist
Summary: Oghren retells the story of the time Gwen Cousland nearly died while traveling the deeproads.


There was laughter by the glowing light of a campfire. Five friend sat eating and caring on as the night grew darker.

"I shit ya not," Oghren said through a mouth full of bread, "he actually stole the fat sods cookies."

There was another roar of laughter.

"No, you can't be serious. A Qunari with a sweet tooth?" Nathaniel asked as he wiped tears in his eyes.

Gwen nodded, "yep. And ery time we stopped in a town, we had't stop by a bakers shop so Sten could get his cookies."

"You make it seem like the Blight was a comedy." Anders budded in, "I mean how often do you hear a Qunari, an Apostate, and a Dwarf entered a bar and not be a joke?"

"Well yea it sounds fun when Oghren tells it, but he was drunk though half of it."

"That is not," Oghren let out a loud belch, "true."

Anders side eyed Oghren before speaking, "what I mean is. It couldn't have all been heroics and fun times."

"Sodding no ya nug. It was the blight."

"Oghren's right, we were fighting tooth and nail most days." Gwen said through a sip of ale.

"Even the mighty Gwen nearly meet her death."

Oghren's words caused the camp to go quite, before Sigrun spoke up. "Come on, Gwen can't die."

"Ya'd think dat." Oghren got serious as he spoke. Something so out of the ordinary that is caused the whole camp to grow uncomfortable, "shit I still get nightmares bout da entire thing."

Gwen watched as they all shifted eyes between her and Oghren. She knew exactly what he was talking about. The Deeproads. It was a three month long trip that nearly ended with her death. She could never forget it, her dreams wouldn't let her. She didn't care about talking about it, but she could see in their eyes that they wanted to know.

"Well Oghren, you brought it up, start talking." She said with a half-assed smile.

"What?"

"You brought it up. You're telling the story."

"Er, alright. So this was right before I joined her crew of nug humpers. She needed ta get da support of Orzammar, fer the war, but we were in da middle of a blighted civil war. Soddin' needed ta choose a king. Anyways, they needed her ta go in da Deeproads. See my wife was a Progeny and was lookin' fer a hammer, well ya'll don't need ta know that part, the part ya need ta know is the trip back."

Gwen couldn't help but feel sad, Oghren still contained a lot of wounds from the Deeproads.

"So there we were, a week from da entrance, with no provisions ta split among the four of us."

"Who all was with you?" Sigrun asked. This is when Gwen noticed they were all listening intently to Oghren's story.

"Well it was myself and Gwen of course, as well as Sten and, uh, Alistair."

His name struck her like a sword through the heart. She did her best to keep a stoic face, but Nathaniel had noticed the slight wince her face had made.

"Anyways, it was da four of us, little food, and boy were we tired. Anyways, we are a week away from da exit when we were attacked by spiders. These big, hairy, ugly soddin' spiders. We fought him, and boy was it a fight, blood, venom, hair, everywhere, but"

"But we were exhausted," Gwen butted in, "and they took a lot more effort to kill then normal. One of the spiders had gotten me alone, and that was when I went down."

"I hadn't seen it happen, but boy did I hear it. Gnawlin', rippin', and breakin'. Both Sten and Alistair, well they both ran fer her ta get da spider off her. She was in bad shape. Her entire side was torn into, and we didn't have a single health poultice or mage with us. I thought fer sure she was gonna die."

Gwen felt a cold chill fun through her body as the image of the spider on top of her ran through her head. She had remember her mistake. She had been concentrating her arrows on a spider Alistair was taking care of instead of making sure she was fine. By the time she saw the spider, it was too late. It lunged, disarming her, and forcing her to the ground. She wasn't strong enough to push it off. Her only hope was her dagger. She stabbed the creature, over and over again, covering her hands in its blood, but that didn't seem ta stop it as it tore into her side. It felt like a fire on her skin as flesh was torn from her. Most of what happened after was a mystery as she was in and out of consciousness.

"So there we were, a weeks from Orzammar, with Gwen bleedin' out. Honestly I think the only thing that saved her was Sten. He worked faster then I ever thought a Qunari could. He wrapped up the wound good and tight."

"What happened next?" Sigrun asked, her eyes wide.

"We sodding ran. Fer a weeks we ran. Sten and Alistair takin' turns carin' her as we fought our way out, and looted da bodies of da darkspawn and recent dead fer supplies ta help."

"If she was so badly injured, how did she live?" Nathanial asked.

"Sodding Luck. A couple days after her attack we found some recent dead dwarves, they had on them two health potions and some food and water. Wasn't much, but it sodding helped. Potion didn't do much fer the wound, but it fought off the poison. And da water brought some life back in her."

Gwen had heard Oghren tell this story Maker knows how many times, but this part always got her. They had given her water a food. Apparently she had been awake at times, although she remembered nothing; during those times, Alistair would hold her head while Sten gave her water. Even Oghren, whom she had only know a few weeks, gave up food to keep her alive.

"By the time we reached the exit we looked a nug arse. Covered in mud, and blood and soddin' tired, caring a half dead Gwen. It took a full week fer Wynne and da Witch ta bring life back ta her, but they did it."

Gwen sighed, "yes they did. I remember waking to find the camp crowded around me. I was laying in a tiny dwarven bed, with my legs half way off the the thing. I had never seen so much fear mixed with relieve in my life."

"Was there scaring?" asked Sigrun

"Fuck yes, Wynne is good but not that good." Gwen took a moment to pull up her tunic to show her side. Her ribs, and stomach was covered in one giant, patchy, discoloured scar.

"It's a badge of honor," Gwen said with a smile, "shows that I am a survivor, but I couldn't have done it without my friends. A lot of people would have left me for dead, but not my boys."

Gwen winked at Oghren who blushed, "shucks Gwen it was nothin'."

The rest of the night was spent telling my happier stories of camp side shenanigans.


End file.
